Saturday night, I watched in horror as the Anaheim Ducks lost in game seven to the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3. I, the sadistic Caps fan that I am, was rooting for Bruce Boudreau to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals because of how much he did for this area while he coached Washington and Hershey. Instead Bruce’s team collapsed in another big game. He was so tantalizingly close.

[Boudreau] has lost six Game 7s in his career, which is something no other head coach from past or present can claim, per Sportsnet. There are only two teams in NHL history to lose at home in Game 7s in three straight seasons: the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks, according to ESPN. In both cases Boudreau was at the helm. Keep in mind that the home team has a 94-67 all-time record in Game 7s, including Chicago’s 5-3 victory tonight.

At best, Boudreau has been unlucky to the point of being a significant statistical anomaly. At worst, he’s the link the correlation suggests he is. Either way, it’s tremendously unfortunate because his teams have been terrific most of the time. His 363-167-69 regular season record gives him the best points percentage of any coach that’s led at least 500 games. Scotty Bowman ranks second on that list.

The only way I could emotionally pick myself off this floor of despair was making a new t-shirt. Combining the first video game I got as a kid, Duck Hunt…

…with Bruce Boudreau’s love of ice cream…

I give you the Cup Hunt t-shirt.

Buy it here. Use the coupon code FREESUMMER during checkout for free shipping.

Willie Desjardins of AHL’s Texas Stars is one of the best coaches not currently in the NHL (Photo: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)

The common thought among Capitals fans is that the team’s new coach must have NHL experience. The Caps last five hires — Adam Oates, Dale Hunter, Bruce Boudreau, Glen Hanlon, and Bruce Cassidy — were all rookie head coaches. This time around, names like Barry Trotz and John Stevens are getting a lot of buzz, whereas Willie Desjardins and Phil Housley are getting little.

Experience matters. All other things being equal, you should hire the guy with more experience, but that does not mean the Caps should discount what a rookie coach might bring. Because if a coach’s best quality is his experience, that’s not a great sign.

Say you’re an executive looking to hire somebody. One job candidate has experience in the same position as one of your competitors (where he got fired, which is important). The other one works in a similar position at a smaller company or maybe he has a lesser position with one of your competitors. The second guy doesn’t have experience in a company like yours, but if he has better ideas, more skills, and fits in better with your company’s philosophy, you’d certainly hire him.

Just like with players, a rookie coach just out of the AHL or juniors can produce better results than a veteran of many seasons. Recent NHL history proves that.

I’m not saying a rookie coach is necessarily a better fit, but I don’t think experience is crucial to NHL success. AHL coaches and NHL assistants aren’t just riff-raff; they’ve got this far in their careers for a reason. If you have evidence that a rookie coach can get results, would you dismiss that just to get more experience?

Among Jack Adams candidates this year you’ve got Patrick Roy, who turned the 29th place Avalanche into a division winner, and Jon Cooper, who finished second in the division despite missing his superstar player for 45 games. Also having a strong showing behind the bench was Craig Berube, who turned around the season of the Philadelphia Flyers following the firing of Peter Laviolette. All three are first-time head coaches in their first year in the NHL.

Of the last eight Stanley Cup-winning coaches, three were first-time hires in the NHL (if you don’t count John Tortorella’s four-game-long stint as an interim with the Rangers in 2000-2001). Torts won the Stanley Cup in his fourth year as an NHL bench boss. Winning it all took two seasons for Randy Carlyle and less than one full year for Dan Bylsma.

Experience isn’t the secret ingredient to turn a mediocre team into a winner. Check out the Dallas Stars. New GM Jim Nill hired Lindy Ruff, who had spent 15 seasons with the Sabres, by far the most experienced coach available when the Stars made a change. In the first year of his tenure, he turned Stars from just-out-of-the-playoffs team to just-in-the-playoffs team who suffered a predictable defeat at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks. Would Caps fans be content with a first-round exit at this point?

Considering how many rookie coaches have succeeded in the NHL, it seems like the Caps’ mistake in hiring Oates and Hunter was more connected to McPhee’s weakness in forecasting and the team’s desire to hype the franchise with big names than to some systemic problem with first-time coaches.

Should two unsuccessful coaching hires by an ex-general manager disqualify all rookie coaches for the position? I don’t think so.

If Caps’ own history is important, than we should note that the only two Jack Adams winners in franchise history, Bryan Murray and Bruce Boudreau, were first-time NHL head coaches.

At the end of the day, experience won’t help if the coach’s philosophy clashes with players ability. We saw that in Vancouver last season. John Tortorella has a decade of experience, eight postseason appearances, and his name on the Cup. Like the Post’s John Feinstein said of GMGM’s hirings, Tortorella to Vancouver “appeared to make sense,” but that experience didn’t get the Canucks into the playoffs, and it ultimately cost general manager Mike Gillis his job.

Coaching experience is important, for sure, but the substance behind the coach is what truly matters.

After this season, with the futures of Adam Oates and George McPhee in doubt, many wondered what the relationship was like between the two men. There was good reason to. During Oates’s administration, McPhee made two major offensive acquisitions: Dustin Penner and Martin Erat. While McPhee talked up both players as top-six powerhouses, Oates never gave them significant minutes on the top two lines. During his final press conference as the Capitals general manager, McPhee declined to talk about whether there was a row with Oates.

“I don’t want to talk about individuals because when you do that you either miss somebody that you should be praising and people get upset, and I just would rather have a happy day and duck individual talk,” McPhee said, adding later that Oates’s firing “was unfortunate for Adam because it was a short tenure.”

However, McPhee heaped praise on Bruce Boudreau, a coach he personally fired, and Dale Hunter, whose departure led to Oates’s hiring.

“I just felt like we had a real good run there for five years and certainly loved working with Bruce,” McPhee said when asked when the Caps’ Stanley Cup window started to close. “I loved working with Dale. That might have been it, when Dale didn’t come back. I thought he did a tremendous job of making this a team and sort of resetting after that, getting a new coach, I just thought we were a little thin on players coming into the system.”

“He’s an outstanding coach and a good guy,” McPhee added of Boudreau.

While McPhee wasn’t effusive when discussing Oates’s time behind the bench, he made no overt criticisms of the former Capital. Here’s what McPhee concluded when asked if the myriad of coaching changes hurt the team.

“No, I don’t think so,” McPhee said. “I don’t want to be negative here. We missed the playoffs by three points for the first time in seven years. We’re doing something really well. Systems don’t matter a whole lot. That should be 10 to 15 percent of what you’re doing. That’s your foundation. It’s about coaching and making it work and our coaches have been making it work.”

To the joy of literally everyone, the sat along directly behind Bruce Boudreau. Oh, and they had props. Because hockey needed more props.

Such as this stuffed animal mallard duck.

And don’t forget the taco sign. You cannot forget the taco sign.

Quick recap for whose minds have been blown: A Stars fan dressed as a mouse wearing a Cody Eakin jersey and a Stars fan dressed as a fox wearing a Kari Lehtonen jersey taunted Bruce Boudreau on national television. Eemil Selanne must have been pleased.

The Caps’ Californian vacation is a crucible that will decide exactly of what this team is made. If the Caps can do the impossible and sweep these four games (the fourth at home against the Kings), they could once again make a late-season push for the postseason. With Tuesday’s narrow win over Bruce Boudreau and his Anaheim Ducks, those hopes are still alive.

Here’s how it all went down.

Joel Ward and the terrific third line did their thing again, crashing the net for the game’s first goal. The Ducks struck back as any Caps opponent would do: within the next minute. Before the first period was up, Troy Brouwer converted on the power play to give the Caps a one-goal lead.

The Caps survived a scoreless second period, but Mathieu Perreault found space and a screen to tie the game early in the third. That simply set the stage for Alex Ovechkin, who scored one of his cleanest Ovi shots from the Ovi spot. Halak fought off a late scramble by the Ducks.

Caps beat Ducks 3-2!

Mathieu Perreault should never have been traded. He’s a good depth player on a great contract, and he’s adorable like a woodland creature. Looking at the Caps lineup on Tuesday, there’s a woodland creature-shaped hole in the middle of the roster. Sarcastically/naturally, Perreault struck in the third period– thanks to a casual vacancy in his slot and no Caps D particularly interested in shoving Ducks out of the crease. One of Anaheim’s best players all night.

The Caps were forced (by themselves, so not actually forced at all) to kill a lengthy five-on-three early in the second period. Within a span of ten seconds, the Caps got busted on a sloppy change (too much dudes) and chucking the puck (delay of game). The PK unit got a bit of luck and some good coverage by Jaroslav Halak to kill it off. Those aren’t encouraging penalties for a team mounting a standings rally, but at least it didn’t burn ’em this time.

Speaking of Halak, here’s another consecutive start for the undisputed number-one goalie in Washington. He was excellent, and there’s something perversely fun about watching robbing a team coached by Bruce Boudreau.

The Capitals got thrashed in puck possession during even strength– which was definitely a factor in committing all those penalties– but they made up for it with deadly efficiency on the power play. The Caps PP is still the best part of this team’s game, and they’re still pretty good at drawing penalties in the first place. They’d be even better if they were stronger at evens.

Brandon Wheat Kings reference on the broadcast? Chris Gordon doing the sup nod on the broadcast? Good broadcast.

Jonas Hiller was fantastic in the second period, stopping a whole bunch of strong Caps chances– including an amazing one by Jason Chimera in the final minutes of that frame.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 46th with the game-winner, a quintessential Ovi shot from the Ovi spot. That wasn’t enough for him– he peppered Hiller with shots during a late-game powerplay, hungry for moar. Looks like his little lull in shots last week is over, which is very good news. You wanna hear Walton call Ovi’s goal? Me too.

Adam Oates really stuck to his lines. Ovechkin played every second of his 5v5 time with Jay Bodenheimer Beagle (4 PIMs) through late in the game. The Mojo-Beagle-Ovi line wasn’t really bad at all, keeping possession about even despite the Ducks playing from behind all night.

What didn’t work: the Penner-Wellman-Wilson line. There’s no there there. I’ve got no clue what Penner’s role is supposed to be on this team. Well, I know what George McPhee wants his role to be. I just don’t know what Oates is intending with him — or that fourth line in general.

I do know this: if Oates puts Penner-Wellman-Wilson up against the Los Angeles Kings, they’ll get shredded. Take it the the bank. The blood bank, Senator Trent.

But I’m gonna default to playoff mode. I don’t care how they win. I merely care that they’ve won.

The Caps now leave Vanaheim and climb Yggdrasil to the realm of Angels.

The Anaheim Ducks have the best record in the NHL. Their coach, Bruce Boudreau, seems to have fallen up when he was fired by the Washington Capitals in 2011. The team has won nine in row, led by offensive stars Ryan Getzlaf, number three in league in points, and Corey Perry, number three in the league in goals. They have a good chance to win their second Stanley Cup since 2007. Monday night, they extended their winning streak with a comeback victory in Boudreau’s, Bob Woods’s, and Mathieu Perreault’s return to Verizon Center.

“Nine in a row: that’s pretty cool,” Boudreau told reporters after the game. “They were trying hard for the guys that were in Washington.”

For Boudreau, it was a surreal experience, plucked from the AHL’s Hershey Bears to lead the Capitals in 2007. More than anyone save for Alex Ovechkin, Boudreau is responsible for putting hockey back on the map in Washington. Without him, the Capitals wouldn’t have had their 202nd consecutive sellout Monday night. Without him, the team wouldn’t become the talk of the NHL. Without him, there may not have been any banners.

“Four and a half years — the greatest years of my life,” Boudreau said. “They didn’t put me on the board! Oh well.”

“I was a little surprised,” he concluded. “What can you do?”

Boudreau still has a soft spot for the Capitals. He watches their games and follows his old players. In his new gig, however, he may get the championship he always fell short of in Washington. The playoffs are a different type of hockey, but Boudreau’s new team plays a more all-around game then his squads in Washington. The Ducks are third in the league in goals per game, but — surprisingly for anyone who watched Bruce’s Caps teams — they also play defense.

I feel sorry for all the johnny-come-lately fans who never knew Bruce Boudreau’s Caps. You know who I’m talking about: all those fake fans who started following the Caps just because of the undeniable electricity of Hunter hockey. Those trendy, fairweather fans who only bought their first Caps shirsey because they saw Ovi pile on an inconceivable 38 goals back in 2011-2012. All they ever knew of the Caps was the unlimited delight of low puck possession and the benching of fan-hated Mike Knuble.

Okay, starting over.

If you were to make a list of things that turned this franchise around in the last decade, you’d see Bruce Boudreau’s name somewhere right underneath Alex Ovechkin and the return to the red uniforms. Now Boudreau is with the Ducks and positively killing it in the Western Conference. Boose brought his league-leading team to Verizon Center for his first game since getting fired more than two years ago. The crowd and the team seemed to appreciate the emotional dimension, and we fans got a decent, if uneven, game out of it.

Mikhail Grabovski got the Caps on the board first by tapping in a pass from Troy Brouwer (and helped along by Ben Lovejoy). Nicky Backstrom converted a power play four minutes later with a sneaky shot to Jonas Hiller’s shoulder. Andrew Cogliano got the Ducks into the game by sweeping up the shards of a broken Caps defense.

The second period was polluted by penalties, and Saiku Koivu tied it with a bang-bang in the waning seconds. Hampus Lindholm got a puck through a crowded shooting lane and well-screened Philipp Grubauer to put the Ducks up with five minutes left. Alex Ovechkin rang the post, and our hearts sank.

Ducks beat Caps 3-2.

Please visit our Kickstarter page to raise funds for Mikhail Grabovski‘s contract extension. In the first period he had a lovely tap-in goal from Fehr and Brouwer, plus he drew the penalty that led to Nicky Backstom’s goal. He’s the best. Surprisingly, his line did not do so great when measuring the tilt of the ice.

Marcus Johansson didn’t score, but he did go for a stuff shot that I would’ve called uncharacteristic a few months ago. Between that and his unholy penalties-committed/penalties-drawn ratio, he’s my pick for Most Improved Capitals player. (I’d still put Fehr on the top line, but that’s just cause I’m a hopeless homer and Fehr fanboy.)

Lots of bad defense by the top line and the Orlov/Green defensive pair on the Koivu goal. Orlov lost his man, Green marked up no one in particular, and Ovechkin might as well have got a cool pic of the goal for Instagram if he’s gonna skate so hard just to get a nice look at it.

The Capitals hung with the Ducks in the first period, but that chippy second period didn’t play to their advantage. That tying goal by Saku Koivu (still in my top-10 list of Most Star Wars Extended Universe hockey player names) was kind of an inevitability looking at the shot attempt chart, which I’ll share in comments as usual. The Ducks took control of this one after the first intermission and never let go.

Oates did switch it up in the third, putting Laich between Chimera and Ward just in time for the go-ahead goal for the Ducks. So much for line matching.

In what I interpret as a sort of randomized controlled trial for playing the hot hand, Adam Oates gave Philipp Grubauer another start despite two healthy and proven goaltenders looking bored and playing Candy Crush somewhere in the building. Unwise.

Joe B suit of the night

Bruce Boudreau’s Ducks have won nine games in a row.

I really liked the Capitals team we saw in the first period. Great forecheck and work in neutral, threatening the net at even strength and drawing penalties, sloughing off the ceremonial man-on-man coverage Ovi gets during the power play.

I guess all those penalties in the second interrupted the momentum, as we didn’t see any of that good stuff in the latter forty. The Caps didn’t put many pucks on net– either overall or in proportion to the Ducks. That’s a serious problem that requires remedy, though I guess we did see some respectable back-and-forth action between the blue lines. But with Bruce Boudreau in the house, I had really hoped for something on the order of 80 shots overall.

I guess I’ll have to live with the disappointment. I can do that. I’ve been getting good at that ever since Boudreau’s dismissal back in the late 80s.

Two years ago, after the Washington’s eighth loss in 11 games, the Capitals fired head coach Bruce Boudreau. Gabby had glided the team to a Presidents’ Trophy and made the Caps the talk of the NHL. He had also overseen crushing playoff defeats and long losing streaks. After the latest one, general manager George McPhee had enough.

In 2013, Boudreau is on a different streak. He now coaches the Anaheim Ducks, a team he took over just two days after being fired by the Caps. Tonight, Bruce returns to Verizon Center for the first time (along with Mathieu Perreault), with his team on an eight-game winning streak. They own the best record in the NHL.

I’m trying to be as business-like as possible. But there are a lot of great memories in this building.

On the relationships he had with the players in Washington

I thought they were really good relationships. They were great guys. For a lot of them, just watching tapes of them, thinking we’ve played in Hershey together, we’ve won championships together. When you win a championship, no matter where you are, you always have a special bond with that group. That’ll be with me forever. At the end of the season, I’ll see a couple of them, but right now I won’t even look over at them tonight. Not once. I’ll be too afraid [laughs].

On if he still follows the Capitals

It’s the time difference. We get to watch the seven o’clock games. Sometimes they’re on and it happens to be there. I’ll watch them.

On wanting his former players to succeed

If you like somebody, you want them to do good. But I don’t want them to do good tonight. But you want them to succeed and you want good things to happen to good people. It’s just natural.

On the difference between Anaheim and Washington, D.C.

The environment is a little different. In California, it’s a little more laid back. We get two media people in our morning scrum, and I think half of them are right here. It’s a little different this morning.

On if he’ll look around the arena and soak it all in during tonight’s game

I don’t know what I’m going to be looking at tonight. I’m going to be trying to focus solely on the game, but I know cameras are going to be on everywhere I look. And that’s what they’re going to show, like ‘Oh, there he is looking at Billy Joe in the stands.’ So I’ll be pretty focused on the game.

On if he knows what kind of reaction he’ll get from the fans

I don’t want to anticipate anything, quite frankly. It’s going to be nerve-wracking going on the bench. It’s going to be really exciting seeing all the red. When the jerseys weren’t there, then all of a sudden you have 18,000 people wearing red. I thought that was cool. That’ll be interesting for me.

On his thoughts on Alex Ovechkin taking his game to another level this season

I guess we might have to cover him tonight. He’s a pretty good player. He got 65 goals the one year, and he won two Hart Trophies when I was here. We all knew how great he was. He can turn it on at any moment. At the same time, every player I’ve seen in any sport has gone through a year where they’ve had a little slump. He certainly has picked it back up. He’s the catalyst on this team, and certainly a top candidate for MVP again.

On the Washington Capitals

They can score. They come from behind and they never quit. They have a power play that you don’t want to take any penalties against. They’re very good.

On the season former Capitals forward Mathieu Perreault is having

He’ll be pretty excited to play tonight. If the people in Washington remember, when he was on, he was buzzing around on the forecheck. He will be genuinely excited to play here. He used to be a big crowd favorite, too, so I’m sure he’ll get some butterflies and his adrenaline will be going.

He’s the same type of player as always, but maybe a little more mature, a little older, and a little more experienced. He still goes through his bugs of inconsistency, but right now, during the last few games, he’s been very good. We hope that continues. He was hurting for two weeks and his game sagged, because skating is Matty’s game. If he can’t skate, then it really takes a lot away from him. But the last two games, he’s been skating and has been the catalyst in our comebacks and in our wins.

On returning to Washington D.C. with a franchise-best eight-game winning streak

I didn’t plan that [laughs]. We’re pretty fortunate that that’s happened. We’re happy about it, but those guys have earned it because they’ve worked really hard to get there through the injuries we’ve had. Now we’re second in man-games lost, but for most of the year we had the most injuries. They kept battling. And we’ve played the most road games in the league. They’ve got a good character group in there that wants to win every night.

On the first thing that came to mind when he first stepped into Verizon Center yesterday

I hope the ice is better [laughs]. I just saw [Verizon Center] and said, “Wow, it’s different from this [visiting] locker room.” I didn’t even know how to get into the building from a visitor’s standpoint. It’s all interesting.

On what he’ll miss most from his time here

The people. The people were great, and the whole city was great, as far as the fans go and the way my family and I were treated. And, I’ll miss the players. I thought they were a rabid bunch that wanted to win. I wouldn’t mind playing them in the Stanley Cup Final. I think that would be a fun environment.

On if there is any lingering bitterness from being let go in Washington

I don’t know if bitterness is the right word. I’ve never used that word, I don’t think. I was grateful for them and what they gave me. No one would’ve ever hired me after 30 years in the minors, unless it was [General Manager] George McPhee and [Chairman and Majority Owner] Ted Leonsis. They took a chance on me. So even though you got let go, I was grateful for the opportunity because I got a job basically a day later.

On the memories of being in Hershey and Washington, D.C.

Great memories I’ll never forget. The championships in Hershey, the raising of the banners here, the comeback wins. All of those things. Watching Alex [Ovechkin] go versus Sidney [Crosby] and all the hype it would bring. The Winter Classic. Everything about Washington was a really great experience.

The Washington Capitals are carrying three goaltenders right now. Why? Not sure. But with Philipp Grubauer earning another start tonight, Braden Holtby decided to take a shift or two on defense during this morning’s practice.

I’m in love with this photo right now. I’d take Holtby over Urbom any day of the week.